It makes sense that young girls are fans of the Boston bombing suspect, says sociology professor Lauren Sardi

Lauren Sardi, assistant professor of sociologyat Quinnipiac University, is available to discuss why young girls are fans of Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who is on the cover of the latest issue of “Rolling Stone.”

“It makes sense that Tsarnaev has a teenage girl following because he ‘appears’ normal, approachable and even charismatic,” Sardi said. “I think the larger picture to take away from this is not necessarily who teenage girls are choosing to focus on, but rather the fact that terrorists do not necessarily fit the stereotyped profile that we as a culture have tried to place them into. What’s even more interesting about the ‘Rolling Stone’ cover is the description of Tsarnaev as essentially being a ‘normal’ student who was sort of forced into doing what he did. So he’s not really considered an active criminal in this case. We can juxtapose this with the discourse surrounding the Trayvon Martin case, in which George Zimmerman was found to be not guilty because Martin ‘directly caused’ his own death.”

To speak to Sardi, please call John Morgan, associate vice president for public relations at Quinnipiac, at 203-206-4449 (cell) or 203-582-5359 (office.)

Quinnipiac University

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 6,500 full-time undergraduate and 2,500 graduate students in 58 undergraduate and more than 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business and Engineering, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, School of Nursing and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac consistently ranks among the top regional universities in the North in U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges issue. The 2014 issue of U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master’s programs in the Northern Region. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review’s “The Best 377 Colleges.” The Chronicle of Higher Education has named Quinnipiac among the “Great Colleges to Work For.” For more information, please visit www.quinnipiac.edu. Connect with Quinnipiac on Facebook at www.facebook.com/quinnipiacuniversity and follow Quinnipiac on Twitter @QuinnipiacU.